Consistency in Multi-Viewpoint Architectural Design of Enterprise Information Systems

Different stakeholders in the design of an enterprise information system have their own view on that design. To help produce a coherent design this paper presents a framework that aids in specifying relations between such views. To help produce a consistent design the framework also aids in specifying consistency rules that apply to the view relations and in checking the consistency according to those rules. The framework focuses on the higher levels of abstraction in a design, we refer to design at those levels of abstraction as architectural design. The highest level of abstraction that we consider is that of business process design and the lowest level is that of software component design. The contribution of our framework is that it provides a collection of basic concepts that is common to viewpoints in the area of enterprise information systems. These basic concepts aid in relating viewpoints by providing: (i) a common terminology that helps stakeholders to understand each others concepts; and (ii) a basis for defining re-usable consistency rules. In particular we define re-usable rules to check consistency between behavioural views that overlap or are a refinement of each other. We also present an architecture for a tool suite that supports our framework. We show that our framework can be applied, by performing a case study in which we specify the relations and consistency rules between the RM-ODP enterprise, computational and information viewpoints

Application of quasi-Monte Carlo methods to PDEs with random coefficients -- an overview and tutorial

This article provides a high-level overview of some recent works on the application of quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) methods to PDEs with random coefficients. It is based on an in-depth survey of a similar title by the same authors, with an accompanying software package which is also briefly discussed here. Embedded in this article is a step-by-step tutorial of the required analysis for the setting known as the uniform case with first order QMC rules. The aim of this article is to provide an easy entry point for QMC experts wanting to start research in this direction and for PDE analysts and practitioners wanting to tap into contemporary QMC theory and methods.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1606.0661

Farmers' perceptions of the lay health worker on farms in the Western Cape, South Africa

This study is focussed on farms situated in the Boland health district of the Cape Winelands, South Africa. The aim was to explore, understand, and describe the perceptions of farmers of having a trained lay health worker (LHW) on the farm. A qualitative study design was applied. Data were collected during six in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions with participating farmers. The results show that farmers remained positive about the concept of having a trained LHW on the farm, but became frustrated with the lack of recognition of their and the LHWs' contribution by the public health service. Farmers who are willing to participate and remain active are key to introducing a farm community-based LHW intervention. Sustainable LHW interventions are dependent on public health sector support and recognition of all role players.Farm Management,

Operational parameters for the superconducting cavity maser

Tests of the superconducting cavity maser (SCM) ultra-stable frequency source have been made for the first time using a hydrogen maser for a frequency reference. In addition to characterizing the frequency stability, the sensitivity of the output frequency to several crucial parameters was determined for various operating conditions. Based on this determination, the refrigeration and thermal control systems of the SCM were modified. Subsequent tests showed substantially improved performance, especially at the longest averaging times

Using geophysical surveys to test tracer-based storage estimates in headwater catchments

Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to Stian Bradford, Chris Gabrielli, and Julie Timms for practical and logistical assistance. The provision of transport by Iain Malcolm and Ross Glover of Marine Scotland Science was greatly appreciated. We also thank the European Research Council ERC (project GA 335910 VEWA) for funding through the VeWa project and the Leverhulme Trust for funding through PLATO (RPG-2014-016).Peer reviewedPostprin

A Rigorous Approach to Relate Enterprise and Computational Viewpoints

Multiviewpoint approaches allow stakeholders to design a system from stakeholder-specific viewpoints. By this, a separation of concerns is achieved, which makes designs more manageable. However, to construct a consistent multiviewpoint design, the relations between viewpoints must be defined precisely, so that the consistency of designs from these viewpoints can be verified. The goal of this paper is to make the consistency rules between (a slightly adapted version of) the RM-ODP enterprise and computational viewpoints more precise and to make checking the consistency between these viewpoints practically applicable. To achieve this goal, we apply a generic framework for relating viewpoints that includes reusable consistency rules. We implemented the consistency rules in a tool to show their applicability

Semantic verification of Behavior Conformance

This paper introduces a formal yet practical method to verify whether the behavior design of a distributed application conforms to the behavior design of the enterprise in which the application is embedded. The method allows both enterprise architects and application architects to talk about designs in their own terms, and introduces a common set of terms as the linking pin between enterprise and application designs. The formal semantics of these common terms allows us to verify the conformance between an enterprise and its applications formally and automatically

A design-for-change approach: developing distributed applications from enterprise models

This paper presents a novel approach to distributed applications design. The proposed approach considers both the enterprise viewpoint and the computational\ud viewpoint of distributed applications during the design process. Two important benefits are thus accomplished: (1) the resulting distributed applications will better match the enterprise’s needs, and (2) changes in the enterprise can easily be translated to changes in the distributed application. The approach comes with a formal notation that makes it possible to define a precise relation between enterprise models and models of the distributed applications

A probabilistic prediction model for window opening during transition seasons in office building

Window operation of occupants in building has close relationship with indoor air quality, indoor thermal environment and building energy performance. The objective of this study was to understand occupants' interaction with window opening in transition seasons considering the influence of subject type (e.g. active and passive respondents) and to develop corresponding predictive models. An investigation was carried out in non-air-conditioned building in the UK covering the period from September to November. Outdoor temperature in this study was determined as good predictor for window operation. The differences in window opening probabilities between active and passive subjects were significant. Active occupants preferred to open window for fresh air or for indoor thermal condition adjustment, even though the outdoor air temperature sometimes were less than 12 °C. Proper utilization of windows in transition seasons contributed significantly to building energy saving and further improve energy efficiency in buildings